The text of II Samuel 22–23 would have made a perfect end for David’s reign. Mighty men, mighty deeds, songs of deliverance—what more could a king ask for?
By the time we get half way through II Samuel 24, however, things have changed. The anger of God has (again) been kindled against Israel. Last time round it was because of Saul’s sin (II Samuel 21); this time it is because of David’s.
David therefore asks God to remove his sin. But there’s a problem. Sin can’t simply be swept under the carpet. Translated somewhat woodenly, David’s request is for his sin to be ‘borne away’ (הַֽעֲבֶר־נָא אֶת־עֲוֹן עַבְדְּךָ), which gets right to the heart of the problem. Someone has to bear Israel’s sin.
Consequently, the prophet Gad, whose name means ‘fate’, requires David to decide Israel’s fate. Israel can be afflicted with either:
three years of famine,
three months of persecution by her enemies, or
three days of pestilence.
It’s up to David to choose which one.
The options presented to David are noteworthy. From Israel’s perspective, three years of famine would be ‘more of the same’. (There’d already been four years of famine in Israel—the three mentioned in II Samuel 21 plus the ten months taken to number the people in II Samuel 24—, so three more would make a total of seven years of famine: cp. I Chr. 21.12.) Three months of persecution would be, in David’s words, ‘to fall into the hands of man’. And three months of pestilence would be ‘to fall into the hands of YHWH’ (24.14). So there seems to be an equivalence to the three choices. As the duration of the punishment goes down, the intensity goes up.
At the same time, God becomes more active in the punishments. Three years of famine simply requires God not to lift the present famine, and three months of persecution requires him to give Israel over to her (already present) enemies. Three days of pestilence is different: it requires God to unsheathe his sword and personally mete out punishment on his people (I Chr. 21.16, 27).
Needless to say, this series of punishments looks on towards a fourth, which is in many ways its logical conclusion—three hours of darkness, centred on Calvary.
As God’s pestilence was unleashed against Israel, David asked God to direct it towards him as opposed to his people (II Sam. 24.17). God rejected David’s offer (since the punishment was David’s fault in the first place), but he would later accept the offer of one greater than David, on whom he poured out his wrath for three full hours.
The sword of YHWH was thus sheathed in human flesh, so we, by God’s great mercy, might never have to endure it.
Jehovah bade His sword awake, O Christ, it woke ’gainst Thee! Thy blood the flaming blade must slake; Thy heart its sheath must be— All for my sake, my peace to make; Now sleeps that sword for me.
Jehovah bade His sword awake,
O Christ, it woke ’gainst Thee!
Thy blood the flaming blade must slake;
Thy heart its sheath must be—
All for my sake, my peace to make;
Now sleeps that sword for me.
Wow, love this figural reading, and great meditation for Good Friday. I’m kind of surprised John doesn’t mention the 3 hours of darkness, because allusions to 2 Samuel are all over John’s gospel, especially John 18 & 21. I recently wrote about John 21 where I believe John connects the threefold discipline in 2 Sam 24 to Peter’s threefold denial and threefold restoration. https://open.substack.com/pub/onceaweek/p/when-empire-comes-to-church-part-899?r=16589c&utm_medium=ios.